Professional Gold Making | Arcanite Bars, Converters and Crystals

Engineers can create valuable items that are expensive, yet cheap to make if we take a look at the average prices between realms.

Here's a good example: Delicate Arcanite Converter.

Personally I haven't seen anyone selling these for months. These cost about 5g to make and can be sold even for 50-500g. If you want to sell them the fastest, I'd keep the price at around 150-200g each.

Alchemy is essential
The schematic cannot be learned from a trainer, but instead you must buy it from a vendor in Winterspring. If you don't have engineering, you can sell the schematic instead for about the same price as a converter goes.

Starting with materials:

• 1 x Thorium Bar


• 1 x Arcane Crystal

These 2 are transmuted into an Arcanite Bar by Alchemists.

For the Delicate Arcanite Converter you need:

• 1 x Arcanite Bar


• 1 x Ironweb Spider Silk

This is made by Engineers.

There's more profit to be made!
As you can see, buying Arcanite Bars from the AH is not always very wise, so you should look for an Alchemist who can create some for you.

Selling these along with the converters can make some nice gold often!

Arcane Crystals too expensive? Worry not!
If Arcane Crystals have crazy prices too, perhaps it would be more wise to go farming some of them instead! For this you need Mining. Arcane Crystals are found along with Thorium Ore, from Thorium nodes in high level vanilla zones.

This way you can make even more gold, perhaps thousands in a hour and more if you turn a few of them into Delicates, half into Arcanite Bars and sell rest as they are! Not to mention Thorium Bars can be expensive too, along with the other gems you can find..

TLDR

In conclusion, if items are too expensive:
- Mine Arcane Crystals
- Transmute most into Arcanite Bars
- Create Delicate Arcanite Converters
- Sell Arcane Crystals, Arcanite Bars and Delicate Arcanite Converters.

And if they are not expensive:
- Buy the materials
- Create and sell Delicate Arcanite Converters

Orb of Deception

There's lots of valuable items in the game. Most of the time people don't recognize their true potential and sell them for incredibly low prices. Orb of Deception is one of these.


World drop items - How to obtain?
Orb of Deception is a rare drop from mainly level 50+ chests and a few rare monsters. There is no guarantee you will find one even after a week's farming, but the chances are there. Personally I've found one from a rare monster that I had to kill 15+ times and 2 from treasure chests in level 50+ zones.

You may also find clueless people selling these Orbs for less than 1000g. I highly recommend to resell them for 10x more!

Treasure Chests

You have about a 1% chance to get one from a treasure chest in high level vanilla zones. For more info about treasure hunting, click on the Treasure Hunt category.

Optimal zones:
- Blasted Lands
- Silithus
- Swamp of Sorrows
- Un'goro Crater
- Winterspring
- Burning Steppes

Monsters

- Skarr the Broken in Feralas.  2% chance. 2-3h respawn timer.
- The Razza in Feralas. 2% chance. 2-3h respawn timer.

Many claim they no longer drop it but I can confirm that at least Skarr indeed does drop it. Also his updated loot table is based on his new levels and the Orb has made quite a few appearances. The other old arena rare, Razza, has also dropped it a few times but I haven't seen a drop personally yet. I can't see why they would have a different drop rate so I assume they are 1-2% ish both but the lack of data shows it as a smaller chance. They spawn next to each others so it won't take long to gank them both.

Also the end bosses in old raids (Not that there's many left with all the revamps going on) also have a 100% drop rate for a couple of blues, and Orb might just be one of them. For more info, check the dropped by list.

How valuable is valuable?
It really depends on your realm. If no one else is selling one, you have no limits. Personally I've sold one for 12k, 10k and 5k. Keep in mind though that it's a vanity item and no one "really" needs one.

Schematic: Purple Smoke Flare

If you like to level alts or farm instances, you're bound to find one, if not more of certain items that are a lot more valuable than they would appear to be. Most of the time people pass on these, sell them for ridiculously low prices or just vendor them, so clicking on need is highly recommended!

World drop items - How to obtain?
One of the most valuable Engineering Schematics is the one for the Purple Smoke Flare. It too is a random world drop, mainly obtained from TBC Heroics and Raids. But like all world drops, there is no point farming a instance just for the said item. The drop rates are ridiculously low! Click on the link to see exact drop rates.

You should also check your AH if someone does not know the value of this item and benefit from it. I've never witnessed this item drop, so I've had to hunt it in the AH instead. I've found this item for sale with a low price 2 times. Needless to say, I resold them both for about 24k g profit total!

This is a vanity item so only a collector would be interested in it. If it's a hardcore collector, it does not matter if you ask 5000g or 20000g for it, they are ready to pay. If it's the typical collector who would like to have it but does not want to pay too much, you will sell it faster if you keep the price at around 3000g.

Even then it may take months to sell it! But at least the deposit costs aren't high. I've sold only 2 since TBC was released and both took a long while to sell. If I recall right, one sold for about 5000g and the other for a whopping 19999g! If you want to sell it faster, trade chat would be a better option. I didn't use it however.

How valuable is valuable?
Most of the valuable items I will be listing here are worth 2-15k, sometimes more. They are mainly for collectors who want to learn every possible recipe in the game. That means you shouldn't expect these items to sell even in the first month. It may very well take even a few months to make one sell, depending on how much your are asking for it and if you focus on auction house only.

Protips:

•  If you create an interesting macro that advertises your rare loot, it will catch more eyes and sell a lot faster!
•  You will be the only one selling these most of the time, so you get to pick the price!

I will create a similar gold making method containing a "junk" rare item once in a while, so stay tuned. Next item is a bit easier to obtain and also sell a LOT faster, yet still gives a nice chunk of gold!

Manual: Strong Anti-Venom

 Recognize Valuable Loot!

If you like to level alts or otherwise farm low level instances, you're bound to find one, if not more of certain items that are a lot more valuable than they would appear to be. Most of the time people pass on these, sell them for ridiculously low prices or just vendor them, so clicking on need is highly recommended.

You should also check your AH if someone is doing the above and benefit from it.

World drop items - How to obtain?

One of the most common rare items is the manual for Strong Anti-Venom, a random world drop, mainly obtained from chests around level 30. Even though farming world drops is pointless, this is not the only valuable item a chest may contain. A good place to test your luck is Scarlet Monastery.

There are more than one wing, so the 5 instances per hour limit will not happen as fast as it would in a typical instance. There are no chests in Cathedral, but mobs also can drop valuables and that wing is the fastest in the game anyways :)

Half of the chests are locked, so bring something that can open them, like bombs or skeleton keys. Skeleton keys do not need a profession so they are often the good choice.

How valuable is valuable?

Most of the valuable items I will be listing here are worth 2-15k, sometimes more. They are mainly for collectors who want to learn every possible recipe in the game. That means you shouldn't expect these items to sell even in the first week. It may very well take even a few months to make one sell, depending on how much your are asking for it.

Protips:

•  If you create an interesting macro that advertises your rare loot, it will catch more eyes and sell a lot faster.
•  You will be the only one selling these most of the time, so you get to pick the price!

I will create a similar gold making method containing a "junk" rare item every 1-2 weeks. Next item I will tell about is a bit more rare, but also a lot more valuable. I've sold one of them for 20k after buying it for 15g a few weeks back!

Hint: It's Purple